Abstract

Low‐energy ion bombardment, concurrent with growth, can control and improve many aspects of film growth, but confirming the atomistic mechanism responsible for these effects has been difficult. We present a simple picture of ion beam‐assisted deposition as the interaction of growth‐induced and ion‐induced surface defects (adatoms and vacancies). We use kinetic Monte Carlo simulations to demonstrate that low‐energy ion bombardment in conjunction with growth produces a smoother surface morphology than either growth or ion bombardment alone by destabilizing surface clusters and promoting step flow growth.